Return to Sender, Address Unknown
by sammit-janet
Summary: Prompt: Stanford era Sam receives Dean's amulet in an unmarked package.


"Jess I'm home!" Sam yelled as the door slammed shut. There was no answer, she must still be in class.

Sam went in the kitchen and saw a small box on the counter. It was addressed to him, but there was no return address. That was strange. Sam opened it and what he saw inside made his breath catch. It was Dean's amulet. He pulled it out of the box and clutched it in his hand. What the hell? He turned the box over, looking for some type of clue as to where it had come from, but there was nothing. Did Dean send this to him, or was he in trouble, someone had him, and they sent it to him? His mind raced with a thousand different ideas.

Sam pulled out his cell and scrolled down to Dean's number. Hopefully it was still the right one, they hadn't spoken in a few years. He pressed "call" and the phone started ringing.

"Hey, this is Dean. If you've got this number then you know what to do."

"Dean, hey, it's—it's Sam. Look man, call me as soon as you get this message okay?" He scrolled down to his Dad's number, but hesitated. He figured dad wouldn't want to talk to him. The last time they spoke he told Sam to never come back. He flipped the phone closed and threw it on the counter.

Sam paced back and forth, what should he do? He had no idea where Dean was. Was he on a hunt, was he with dad? Maybe Bobby would know where Dean was. He slid the black cord around his neck and twisted the amulet with his fingers before he dialed the number.

"Sam! Good to hear from you! How's Stanford?" he could hear Bobby's smile through the phone.

"It's good Bobby, real good. Hey, do you know where Dean is right now?"

"What's wrong?" Bobby's voice instantly sounded worried.

"It may be nothing, but his amulet got sent to me and there's no return address. I'm not sure what's going on."

"You mean the one he never takes off?"

"Yeah, that one."

"That doesn't sound good."

"Thanks Bobby," Sam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh—sorry Sam. The last I heard he was in Lawrence."

"Lawrence? Lawrence, Kansas?"

"Yep, that would be the place."

What the hell would he be doing there? "Ok, thanks Bobby."

"Sure thing. Sam, be careful."

"I will," he closed the phone and started throwing clothes in a bag. Sam wrote Jess a note telling her he would be gone for a few days, jumped in his car, and sped down the road. He didn't want to go, he had gotten out, no more hunting. But he couldn't just leave Dean in the hands of whoever—or whatever—had him.

Once he got to Lawrence, Sam asked around if anyone had seen Dean or the Impala but no one had. He checked into a motel and scoured the internet for anything strange that had been happening lately, any reason why Dean would come back home. After what had happened he knew this was the last place he would want to go. It had to be something serious for him to come back here. There were a few demonic omens but nothing out of the ordinary. Sam slammed the laptop closed and bit his nails. This didn't make any sense. Just then his cell phone rang. He frantically pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID, it was Dean.

"Dean! Where are you? Are you all right?"

"Hey Sam, I got your message. You sound freaked. What's going on?" Dean sounded completely normal.

"Are you okay?" Sam demanded, his voice raising.

"Yeah, what's this about man?"

He breathed a heavy sigh and fell back on the bed. "I—I guess it's nothing."

"What happened?"

"I got your amulet in the mail and I thought something had happened to you because you never take this thing off," Sam waited for his response, but honestly, he was scared to hear it. If he wasn't in trouble, then why did he take it off? Did he hate him as much as dad did?

"My amulet? You mean the one you gave me for Christmas?"

"Yeah, you don't have another one do you?" he chuckled.

"Sam, I'm wearing that right now. I'm looking at it as we speak."

Sam sat up on the bed, "What are you talking about?" He grabbed the amulet to make sure he hadn't imagined the whole thing.

"It's around my neck."

"That—that can't be right. I have it."

"Sam, where are you?" he heard a sense of foreboding in Dean's voice.

"Well, I was worried something had happened to you and I had been sent the amulet as a message so I called Bobby to find out where you were—"

"Bobby? Bobby's with me Sam."

That wasn't good. "Bobby's with you?"

"Sam, listen to me. Tell me where you are right now, and then lock the door, put salt around the doors and windows, and don't leave the room, do you hear me?"

Sam nodded, then realized Dean couldn't see that so he answered, "Yeah, got it. I'm in Lawrence at the Blue Ivy motel, room 158."

"Lawrence? Lawrence, Kansas?"

"Yeah."

"Dammit Sam!" he could hear Dean hit the steering wheel with his hand. "How did you not see this is a trap?"

"I'm sorry man! I was worried something had happened to you. I didn't think, I just drove."

"Ok, ok, just stay put. We're in Nebraska so it's going to take us about 3 hours to get to you. Do you have any weapons?"

"I—" Sam cringed, Dean wasn't going to like his answer, "I don't."

"Great, so you're a sitting duck," he heard Dean sigh and Sam could picture his face, exasperated, he knew that face too well.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again.

"It's all right. Just hunker down—" Dean was cut off by the door to the room crashing in.

"Sammy?!" Dean yelled. The two guys who had broken down the door were huge, and had black eyes.

Sam dropped the phone and charged at the demons. He got in a good punch or two before they knocked him out cold. One of the demons picked up the phone, "Come to Lawrence if you want your brother to live."

Sam woke to find himself tied to a chair. His eye was swollen half-shut and he tasted blood in his mouth.

"Aww little Sammy's awake," one of the demons was sitting on the bed. The other was watching out of the window.

"Who the hell are you?" Sam strained against the ropes.

"Relax Sam, you're just bait, we're not going to hurt you. Well, unless we get bored," he smiled.

"Bait for who? Dean? He's not that stupid," Sam smirked.

"Oh, I think he is, because he's on his way right now."

"What do you want?"

"Dean and your dear old daddy are looking for something and we can't allow them to find it."

"What? What are they looking for?"

"Don't you worry about that," he twirled a knife around in his hands.

Sam's mind raced. He had to get away before Dean got here. He would walk right into this,do anything to save him, and Sam couldn't let him get hurt. He tried loosening the rope with his hands but it was too tight.

The demon stood and walked over to Sam, flipping the knife back and forth. "You know, we've got some time to kill, how about you tell me where your father is?"

"I have no idea, I haven't spoken to him in years."

"Years? Wow, what did you do to piss daddy off?"

"I went to college," Sam spat back.

"Damn, daddy knows how to hold a grudge huh?"

Sam scoffed quietly and shook his head. "You could say that."

Suddenly the demon at the window spoke up, "He's here." Sam heard the roar of the Impala engine and once again tried to get out of his restraints. But it was no use, these demons knew how to tie a damn knot.

Dean banged on the hotel room door, "I'm here, open up you sons-of-bitches!"

They opened the door and Dean came barging in the room, looking around wildly, "Where's my brother?"

"He's right there. We didn't harm a hair on his head, as promised," the demon pointed at Sam with the knife.

Dean raced over to Sam's side, kneeling down and assessing the damage. "You didn't harm him huh? Then why is his face all bloody?!"

"Hey, he attacked us. We had to defend ourselves!"

"You okay Sammy?" Dean put his hands on either side of Sam's head.

"I"m ok. I think my nose is broken, but other than that, I'm great."

"I will kill you bastards!" Dean stood up and spun around but the demon had the knife at his throat before he could even take a step.

"Be careful kid. We don't want to kill you or your brother. We just need information."

"Information?! What the hell kind of information do you need?" Dean's hands were clenched by his side, ready to attack when he was able.

"Where is your father?"

"My—my dad? That's what all this is about?" Dean laughed. "Well, I hate to tell you, but you guys have wasted your time. I haven't seen my father in days, I have no clue where he is."

Sam looked at Dean in shock. Dean wasn't with dad? What was going on?

"Well, he's hunting down a very special weapon, a gun, and he cannot be allowed to locate it."

"Well good, then go find him and give him that message," Dean snarled.

"Hmmm, you know, I don't think you're telling me the truth. I think you know exactly where your dad is and you're going to call him and tell him to get here, now!" The demon punched Dean in the face and swiftly put the knife back against his throat before he had a chance to retaliate.

Dean wiped his lip and said, "Buddy, even if I did call him, he wouldn't answer. And he wouldn't come, because he would know this is a trap. And my dad is not as dumb as you."

"What is that supposed to mean? I got both of his boys here, how is that dumb?"

"Because I have back-up."

Bobby burst in the open door with his shotgun and shot the demon by the window with rock salt.

"No!" the demon holding the knife to Dean's throat slashed at him just as Dean dropped down and tackled him, knocking him to the floor. Bobby splashed holy water in his face and Dean punched him, knocking him out.

"Bobby, tie these guys up, we've got some exorcising to do." Dean walked over to Sam and untied him, helping him stand up.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry Dean, I should've known—"

"Don't worry about it, you're out of practice, that's all," Dean helped him to the bed and made him sit down.

Sam winced and said, "I think I might have some broken ribs too. Dean, do you really not know where dad is?"

"No, of course I know where dad is. He's in Montana. Bobby and I were on the way to meet him to help him hunt."

"Oh—good, I thought he was in trouble or something."

"No, he's fine. Stubborn as ever." Dean leaned forward and grabbed the amulet Sam had around his neck, inspecting it. "How in the hell did they make it look exactly like mine?"

"Good question," Sam slid it over his head and handed it to Dean.

Dean pushed it back and said, "No, why don't you keep it Sam? I've already got one," he pulled his out from under his shirt and smiled.

"Ok, I will," he put it back on, cringing as it brushed against his nose.

"All right," Dean clapped his hands together, "let's get you to a hospital and get that nose looked at."

"Aww man, that's not necessary," Sam tried to wave him off.

"No, if you don't fix it now you'll have a crooked nose. Wouldn't want anything to mess up that pretty face of yours," Dean smirked.

"Shut up—jerk."

"Bitch."


End file.
